Show us your wide-field scope

[Mr Spock]

There are quite a few posts here about small scopes, and they are really popular. One thing they do well is wide-field. Whether it's for taking in the Veil Nebula, or just cruising star fields, they provide a view larger scopes can't match.

Here's my 4° option - a FS-60CB with 22mm LVW. 

 

[Stu]

Nice topic. I offer up my Televue Genesis f5 with 31mm Nagler giving around 5 degrees field of view. Lovely for Milky Way surfing and the Veil/NAN and M31 etc. Sorry, couldn’t find a pic with the big nag in it, this will have to do.

[RobertI]

Probably my widest field setup is my 60mm F3.75 finder with my 24mm 68 degree eyepiece, giving a whopping 7.5 degrees field of view! The aberrations are quite unpleasant though. I can use my 38mm Panaview with my 66mm refractor, giving a 7 degrees FOV, there is theoretical vignetting but not actually noticeable. But my everyday wide field setup is my 102ED and 38mm Panaview giving 3.9 degrees. Stupidly I sold my Megrez 72mm which was a brilliant wide field scope with a 2” focuser. I know this is a “show me” thread, so better show a picture I guess…..

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by RobertI

[Mr Spock]

I could get 7.7° with the 42mm LVW but the FS-60CB doesn't have enough in focus  It's probably about 10-15mm short.

[mikeDnight]

My 100mm F8 would once of a day have been considered a "wide-field" scope, and although many today wouldn't consider it such, it still does a bang up job at delivering rich field views.

 

Then there's the baby 72mm, which gives lovely wide-field views.

[DirkSteele]

I can get 6.2 degrees with my 35mm Panoptic with my Tak FS-60 (5.8 deg with my 21mm Ethos).

 

With my APM LZOS 105 f6.2 I can get 3.4 and 3.2 degrees with the same two eyepieces but could exceed 4 if I bought a 41mm Panoptic.

Sadly, I do not have photos with the scopes using either eyepiece.

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by DirkSteele
Typo

[Mr Spock]

Although a bigger scope than I'd intended this thread to be for, this combination gives a creditable 3.7°. Great for viewing the Pleiades.

[jock1958]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

I could get 7.7° with the 42mm LVW but the FS-60CB doesn't have enough in focus  It's probably about 10-15mm short.

What about trying a Tak 2” visual back or a Tak CSV tube or a combination of both? 

[Mr Spock]

4 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

What about trying a Tak 2” visual back or a Tak CSV tube or a combination of both? 

I've not seen a CSV tube for sale; the 2" VB is a possibility - the scope didn't come with one.

[jock1958]

19 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I've not seen a CSV tube for sale; the 2" VB is a possibility - the scope didn't come with one.

If you can’t buy a CSV tube then it might be a case of a shorter VB 🤔 the standard 1.25” VB that came with my FS-60C is about 85mm long and 2” VB is 40mm.
Something else to consider is the length of your tubes, my CSV tube is 105mm long and standard tube is 145mm, one of the reasons the guy I bought it off sold it was he got fed up having to constantly swap adapters, tubes, prism & mirror diagonals around!

[MalcolmM]

Tak FS60CB  and Masuyama 32mm gives a huge 7.6°

Sometimes I use this combination as a finder, dual mounted with a Mewlon 180 on a Giro Ercole. It's a lovely combination to use.

Malcolm 

[Debo]

Here are my RFTs, TS Optics 152 F5.9 and a TS Optics Photoline 60 F6. 

[josefk]

I'm over the moon with my new FSQ-85. With a 31NT5 i can achieve 5.35 degrees at x15:

...but i'm more likely to stay a little lighter (for carrying purposes not mounting issues) and use a 24mm Panoptic more often for 3.44 degrees at x19:

With the exit pupil of either i'll need to use a Dioptrx to correct astigmatism and it's that astigmatism that has begun to spoil binocular views i would have otherwise used at these kind of wide FOV's 😞

Since becoming a Swarovski convert for bird spotting many years ago "wide" also has to equal "flat" for me hence the Petzval in this slot.

[josefk]

Not that i've been able to see the whole Veil complex so far in my local spots (with any scope) but i live in hope (the outer white circle is my finder at 6.3 degrees)...

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by josefk

[Stu]

4 hours ago, jock1958 said:

Tak CSV tube

I used to have a CSV tube but they are all but impossible to get hold of now. Almost worth buying an extra CB tube and getting it shortened….

[Stu]

1 hour ago, josefk said:

Not that i've been able to see the whole Veil complex so far in my local spots (with any scope) but i live in hope (the outer white circle is my finder at 6.3 degrees)...

 

 

Well worth trying. It’s fab with the full 4” of the Genesis and it’s lovely flat field, but under a dark sky my TS72mm gave pretty good views of all of it in the same field of view.

[F15Rules]

"Show us your wide-field scope"

What??🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🙂

Edited August 29, 2023 by F15Rules

[josefk]

@Stu I believe i have seen most of the length or elongation of the Eastern part but still without really seeing the Western part at all beyond vague "possible detection". At my next attempt i can get a bigger exit pupil than previously and I can get a bit more surrounding sky too and that may help but if it doesn't then i think i need a bit more help from a darker sky - a trip down the road to the Norfolk coast i think. 

Edited August 29, 2023 by josefk

[jock1958]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

I used to have a CSV tube but they are all but impossible to get hold of now. Almost worth buying an extra CB tube and getting it shortened….

My CSV tube is fitted all the time, if I fit the longer one then I have trouble bringing some of my eyepieces to focus, for me I can’t see the point in the longer one. 

Don’t forget Stu If you shorten a CB tube you will need to cut a new internal thread or you won’t be able to connect that end 🤔

[Stu]

15 minutes ago, josefk said:

@Stu I believe i have seen most of the length or elongation of the Eastern part but still without really seeing the Western part at all beyond vague "possible detection". At my next attempt i can get a bigger exit pupil than previously and I can get a bit more surrounding sky too and that may help but if it doesn't then i think i need a bit more help from a darker sky - a trip down the road to the Norfolk coast i think. 

With dark skies it should definitely be possible. Do you use an OIII filter? That helps too, even with small apertures.

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

My CSV tube is fitted all the time, if I fit the longer one then I have trouble bringing some of my eyepieces to focus, for me I can’t see the point in the longer one. 

Don’t forget Stu If you shorten a CB tube you will need to cut a new internal thread or you won’t be able to connect that end 🤔

Yes, that’s what makes it tricky. I would perhaps get Mark at Moonraker to do it…

[IB20]

I get a whopping 0.22° with the 4mm TOE!

 

[Deadlake]

Using a 55 mm Plossl, AP compressor gets this 105 mm to 5.5 degrees field of view

 

[Grump Martian]

Lovely subject indeed. Here's my Skywatcher Equinox 80 mm. At f6.25 and using my 32 mm 68° eyepiece. It gives a generous 4.3° field.

[John]

I've posted these quite often but here are my 3.8 degree rig, the Vixen ED102SS + Nagler 31mm, and the more recently put together Altair ED 70mm + Nagler 31 setup which delivers a 6 degrees true field.

These ED doublet refractors (and others posted in this thread) are notable because not only can they deliver views of wide swathes of space but they can also quite comfortably handle, and often exceed, magnifications of 50x per inch under decent conditions and on the right targets. 

Really usable versatility 🙂

Edited August 29, 2023 by John